The present disclosure generally relates to methods of manufacture for sensor arrays, and specifically to a method of manufacture of an array of microlens over an array of pixels in an image sensor of the light field camera.
Some types of the light field camera use an array of microlenses placed in front of an image sensor to sense the intensity, color and directional information from the scene. The image sensor and the array of microlenses are placed at a distance of separation in order to focus the light field on the array of microlenses at its focal plane. The distance of separation is determined by several factors such as a width of each pixel in the image sensor, a focal depth of the micro-lens, and a width of the micro-lens. In conventional light field cameras, any variation in the distance of separation results in a misfocus causing a blurring in the images. Furthermore, the coupling of the array of microlenses to the image sensor requires proper alignment which may be difficult to maintain over extended periods of time due to environmental factors.
Accordingly, the design of conventional light field cameras has a limitation of precise placement of the array of microlenses on the image sensor due to the lack of a monolithic process.